


Chapter II

by rhicola



Series: See You In Hindsight [3]
Category: The Walking Dead
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-11
Updated: 2015-01-11
Packaged: 2018-03-07 02:17:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3157436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhicola/pseuds/rhicola





	Chapter II

When Beth opened her eyes again, her first thought was that _everything_ , the outbreak, her new family . . . Daryl . . . had all been some strange nightmare. Her mind and body were still in the fight or flight mode that the zombie apocalypse required of a person. Her muscles were tense and her heart was beating frantically against her rib cage. But when she looked around to see she was back in the farmhouse she’d grown up in, for one second she fooled herself into thinking that the world outside this place was as normal as cherry pie on a summer day. That her mother and father were making dinner, Maggie and Shawn away at college, Jimmy somewhere safe probably thinking about her. 

That’s when she felt the harsh edges of the slice of mirror in her hand. And she suddenly felt the bitter sting of irony. She had made a rash, uncharacteristically stupid decision to attack Dawn in that hospital. She’d chosen revenge over not only her life, but also the lives of her family. And here she was, back at the pivotal moment when she first chose to _live_. 

She suddenly thought this was like a song, one that started out full of tragedy and despair but that eventually had a change of heart — that her decision to try and kill Dawn was her DS al Coda, and now here she was back to this specific point. _She would not make the same mistake twice._

Her sudden determination made her clutch the shard of glass in her hand harder and she hissed at the sudden pain coursing through her palm. 

“Beth . . ? Beth!” Desperation laced Maggie’s voice as she banged on the locked door to the bathroom.

A memory flashed through Beth’s mind of the first time this happened — Lori forcing the door open, blood dripping down her wrists, tears streaming down her cheeks. And the pain, oh she remembered the pain, not only in her wrist but also in her soul and her sister’s face. 

She dropped the piece of mirror and it clattered to the floor as the door flew open. Even though Maggie was scared, and she was the reason for that fear, her heart swelled at the sight of her sister. _Beth hadn’t seen her since the prison fell._ And here she stood, so young and still full of life — the realities of their world only just starting to truly affect her. 

“Maggie, I’m so sorry!” She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around her sister. Tears quickly filled her eyes.

But Maggie only yielded to the embrace for a moment before desperately searching Beth’s body for cuts. 

“I couldn’t go through with it,” Beth said quietly, suddenly trembling. 

“Oh, Beth,” Maggie exhaled like she’d been holding her breath for days. She pulled Beth into her arms and they held each other for what seemed like forever and yet only a few seconds. 

As she shook in her sister’s arms, Beth’s mind raced. She had been given another chance, but she remembered too much. These people, Lori, Rick, _Daryl_ , saw Beth as practically a stranger. Just seeing Lori alive and standing behind Maggie made her throat tighten, and think of Judith. _No one would believe her._

But despite these challenges that seemed picked out from a science fiction novel, for some reason she was given another chance at this life. She didn’t know how or why any of this could be possible, but she wasn’t going to take it for granted.

~*~*~*~

Maggie didn’t want to leave her side, and frankly Beth didn’t want her too either. Except for the fact that she’d felt her journal in her back pocket when she returned, or woke up from a strange dream, she still wasn’t sure. Hopefully the journal would provide her with some answers, because she’d seen another journal on her bedside table. The only way that made sense was she actually came back from the future. Which was crazy!

Finally she couldn’t handle it anymore. “Maggie, uhm. Do you mind? I love you but I just need to be alone for a minute. I promise I’m not going to do anything stupid.”

Maggie studied her closely, looking for any sign of a lie. When she was satisfied, she squeezed her sister’s hands and Beth wrapped her arms around her neck. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay? I can’t go to your funeral, Beth. I can’t.”

“I know,” Beth sighed. “I love you. I’ll be down for dinner.”

“Okay. See you soon.”

As Maggie closed the door, Beth fumbled to pull the journal out of her pocket. She was shaking. Could this possibly be? She started flipping through the pages and stopped in the middle of the book.

_Daddy lost his leg today on a mission to clear out walkers from the prison. He still hasn’t woken up after Rick chopped it off. I’m so scared for him, for Maggie and me. Even if he wakes up from this, how will he continue to survive without a leg with zombies running around? But I want him to survive. Even if I have to protect him every second of every day myself, I just want to talk to my Daddy again._

Beth wiped tears from her eyes. She flipped a few pages, hoping to find something nicer.

_Lori died today. And T-Dog and Carol. There was a huge herd of walkers. But Lori gave us one last gift — a beautiful little girl. But Carl had to put his mother down himself. I can’t imagine what that did and will do to him. I can’t imagine having to do that to Daddy or Maggie. Seeing Rick break down was hard, too. He’s been keeping to himself since. I don’t know what will happen to him or the group. Surprisingly, Daryl takes care of that baby like he’s done it before. Who knew Mister-rough-around-the-edges-redneck has such a gentle touch. His whole face changes when he holds her. He’s actually quite attractive when he’s not scowling._

Beth flipped through more pages. 

_The Governor wants a war. I’m honestly frightened about what will happen. He has numbers, but the prison is safe. Merle is here. Seeing him makes my blood boil, knowing what he did to Glenn and what he let happen to Maggie. He and Daryl clearly have a complicated relationship. Hopefully he realizes that his brother has it good here, and won’t screw it up for him._

Why were all of her journal entries mentioning Daryl? She put herself back in the prison; did she feel this way about Daryl even back then, without even realizing it? She flipped more pages.

_The prison fell. We lost . . ._

Those were the only words on that page. It was stained with tears. Her heart dropped into her stomach. She knew they lost her father that day. She and Daryl were on the run for a while before Beth was taken to Grady. She closed the journal, unable to bare any more of the pain that seeped through its pages. She slipped it underneath her mattress and looked around the room and sighed. How was this possible? Was _this_ the dream? Was she actually dead? Is this purgatory? Should she tell someone? Maggie maybe? How could anyone believe this? She barely believed it herself. 

Beth left the room, unable to take the four walls confining her. She slipped into the kitchen to find Maggie, Lori, and Patricia making dinner for the group. 

“What can I do?”

The women turned, surprised to find Beth standing there. Maggie beamed back at her sister. 

“Oh, honey, you should rest,” Patricia responded, concern wrinkling her eyebrows

“No, I’m fine. I want to help. It’ll get my mind off of everything.”

Maggie motioned her closer and let her take over washing the potatoes, while Maggie made to cut the already clean ones. It was nice to have her sister by her side again. She kept stealing glances at her, young, healthy, beautiful, on the brink of falling in love. 

“What’re you looking at?” Maggie teased when she caught Beth’s stare.

Beth blushed, unsure of how to proceed but wanting to just spill everything to her sister right then and there with Lori and Patricia overhearing. She almost didn’t care. But she knew she shouldn’t. “I just love you, and I’m glad to be here.”

Maggie set the knife down and wrapped an arm around her sister’s shoulders. “I love you, Bethy. I’m so proud of you,” her sister crooned. “But don’t you ever scare me like that again, Beth Greene.”

She chuckled and bumped her sister’s hip with her own. “I won’t. I promise.”

~*~*~*~

After dinner and most had gone to bed, Beth made for the kitchen for a drink of water and found her father sitting at the dining table alone with his head in his hands.

The sight of him alive and breathing brought tears to her eyes. She remembered telling Daryl at the prison that she didn’t cry anymore. And here she was crying at the drop of a hat. But this was different. This was a weird mix of pain and relief that she’d never experienced before. It made it hard to breathe with the weight of it all. 

Herhsel still didn’t notice her standing in the doorway, they hadn’t seen each other since the bathroom incident, but she knew he knew. 

“Daddy.”

The sound coming out of her mouth almost made her start crying again. It had been so long since she said that to him, and not about him. 

He looked up and she couldn’t read his expression. Some mix of pain and pride, but she couldn’t figure out the ratio. 

“Doodlebug.” 

She crossed the floor quickly and wrapped her arms around him. She pushed her body against his so forcefully she could feel his weight shift in the chair.

“Woah, bug, everything’s fine, I’m right here.”

Beth stepped back a bit to look her father in the eye, trying to keep her breathing steady. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry for the way I acted after . . .” Her voice trailed off and she looked around toward the direction of the farm.

“No, no, Beth,” her farther shook his head. “I robbed you of grieving for your mother and your brother and I – I never should’ve done that. I was stupid.”

The first time, they never talked about it. After she’d cut herself he’d stitched her up and she’d never apologized, just said she wanted to live now and they both left it at that. Not that she had ever held a grudge against him for the barn, but hearing him say he was wrong somehow helped heal that layer of her heart a little better. 

She still couldn’t believe she was looking at her father. He still had two legs and short hair. He was not yet the warrior he died as, but it would happen soon enough. For now he was almost the soft teddy bear she’d known him as during her childhood.

Beth climbed onto his lap like she used to do when she was much smaller, resting her head against his chest and taking a deep, shaky breath. 

“We’re gonna be okay, Daddy. These people, they’re _good_ people.”

He wrapped his arms around her like they had just sat like this yesterday. “They are,” was all he said in response, though she could tell he thought of saying more. Maybe about Shane, or about how the group was fighting too much. But he thought better of it. “I’m glad you came back to us.”

The comment made Beth stiffen for a minute. _How did he know?_ But then she thought of that bathroom, where she almost ended her life. And she knew what he meant — that the Beth he knew and raised would never have made that decision. 

“I was just so overwhelmed, but I wasn’t in my right mind. We can’t lose hope.”

When they made eye contact again, there was no pain in her father’s eyes, just pride. And she smiled.

“You’re right. We’ve all got jobs to do. And right now, yours is to sleep. C’mon, let’s get you to bed.”


End file.
